12/10/13

Afternoon, there had been a surge in orders lately. Handfuls of iFlites and such have gone out......
If you are wanting a kite for the holidays we suggest you tell your loved ones soon as we might sell out on you!

12/1/13

Well it does not have to be a special shopping day to get your hands on a beautiful kite!

Come on over to the site and fill your own stocking (or send someone else to do that for you ~ we can do a wish list!!).
There are limited amounts of the Feathers, Gingas, and others up there.... and if you would like a great 3 dimensional kite - Karl Longbottom's Angels are still on sale.

11/9/13

single line kites that are designed to fly in no wind and low wind conditions, indoors and outside

So..awhile back I was reminded that I had to add the iFlite and its brethren into the list of the xUL kite genre.....Thinking on it, I realized that there was a lot more to add that I had left out as well..so....this is an attempt to capture more of them, if not them all......please do not fault me if I miss one!

Most of these kites I have and have flown, there are a few in here that I cannot comment directly on, but there are always new ones coming out to add to the bag!

Fighter kites....lots of fighter kites also fall into this designation as well.....
There are makers like Jose Sainz, Glenn Davison and Paul Berard who have over the years made some kites that fit this genre that interested flyers have been able to get as well.

Some of these kites are long gone (2nd Wind) and some are currently available in one version or another, and some are still in the design process

These kites are all designed to fly in the no to low wind levels. They are usually made out of lighter than normal fabrics and materials to make them as light as possible; but of course that also leads them to be a bit more fragile than normal wind kites.

Some have carbon rods as thin as a pin, and some have their skins made out of material so thin that you could poke a hole in it with the slip of a finger.

Some of the above listed kites are stable flying in 1 mph, while others are active flyers that you need to, and want to interact with to have the kite dancing in the lack of wind.

Some of these kites are big (the Morpho Grande is about 14' wide) and others are small, small enough to fly in a office, or your dining room.

Some of these kites excel at a long graceful gliding flight, while others excel at climbing as high and as fast in possible into the air.

Some of the above designs are older historical designs (i.e. the Genki and Pan Ying), and some are new fangled designs (Tapertail S) but they all have a spot in your bag.

The active single lines are my favorite to fly....making them swoop, dive and twirl in a wind dance is a lot of fun, and it shows your prowess as the kite dips towards the ground only to turn away at the last second....totally in control even though there is almost no wind felt.....my bags are full of kites like them if not the exact kites listed above.

Please feel free to comment if you can think of more out there, I know that try as I might I have not identified them all.

The Feathers (two sizes Midi & Micro available) are angelic gliders...so light....transparent...and floating on the tiniest breath of wind or lack of wind!

The iFlite family has a new design: the iPrey is a super fun gliding kite that will not last long. Not last long in that there is a seriously small limited amount of them. Over two painstaking hours goes into each iPrey, and they are worth it! These are fantastic, and come in a handful of colors.

Check them, and grab them while you can!

There was a request awhile back about updating the posts on the xUL kites as there are new designs coming out. Hopefully, this will happen very soon to show the expanded selection that have gone through our hands, and our experiences with them.

7/10/13

Well..it has been a bit since I posted to this site...lots of things have changed, been sold, been purchased.

Lets see....iFlites...we still have a rainbow of colors on hand, and there is only one iFlite II left (in green if you are interested)....

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a Cuben Hawk designed and made by Doug Stoat of Falcon Aero Designs. You may remember him as making a handful of sport kite models in the 90s...well Doug is back and is working with Cuben Fibre material in his "sofa kites".... Doug is working on releasing some plans for some of his xUL active flyer kites....The hawk is one of them....smaller than an iFlite but highly engineered and that cuben fibre material just makes it look soooo techy....

Sale on Longbottom Angels! The Large and Medium Angels are marked down. They are beautiful 3d kites that float in the breeze. Also Karl made up some Tangram flyers for us too.....sort of like the traditional 3 stick Bermuda style kites, these have been tweaked for better performance and appearance.
There are also only a couple of 6-81s left from Karl as well. If you are looking to expand your xUL active flying kite bag and want something a little different than the 6-81 is for you!

There is a new kite that will be hitting the pages soon.....the Ginga! Yes, we have had the plans provided from Christophe for some time now, and they were the plans that you could scale to make a couple of different versions of the Ginga. Well, Christophe made up a new size for us! The small Ginga is designed for travel and to be carried around. The same great flight, but in a more portable size!

There is one caveat with the small Ginga though. If you are lucky enough to get one (there are only 5 available) you will have to film you flying it and upload it to youtube! Share the flight!!!!!

Okay....bit of an update here but there will be more to come too...

IF you are in the New England area we will be at the Newport Kite Festival this weekend...down at the old flying grounds of Brent Point State Park in Newport, RI. Swing on by and say hi!

2/1/13

Wow...
So....five years ago I started the website up as a way to help out kite builders get their product out to the kite world.....
Now, I have shipped packages to all over the globe and especially all over this continent! I have moved about 45 times since the site started (there has only been one issue of a shipment being sent to an old address - luckily the new address was about a mile down the road and I had the same post man!)

As some may know I worked at High Flyers in Newport, Rhode Island, for 9 years....I learned soooo much at that shop..made wonderful life long friends and had a blast! (Newport Saint Patrick's Day parade with Irish coffee streetside is just one example) I learned so much from Sue about this world of wacky kite people!
High Flyers closed at the end of 2005 and I was stuck out there with only my environmental education job to keep me going....I kept in touch with many of the kite people from the shop; during one conversation with Scott Hampton I started thinking that I should generate an outlet for the kite makers and kite public as well.

I am now working with 16 kite makers (discussions are in place for #17 right now), these people are based in the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, US, Canada, Singapore and France. Getting in packages from these makers is great, I love it! I also love then sending out new designs to those interested kite fliers. Experiencing customers finding out that new and different items are out there and not being mass produced is awesome.

Then shortly after I started the website an old customer from High Flyers called me and asked if I could liquidate his collection for him. Turn of events had him not flying at all and putting all of his free time into other avenues. He drove the van over to my house and unloaded a bunch....that first van load was the beginning of The Yard Sale, a place where used/preloved kites and items are offered up on good deals.
There have been a lot of amazing kites that have passed through The Yard Sale.....many boutique kites....kites from many years ago....pieces that have been sought after....some pieces that i have regretted sending along to someone else too ;)

I will admit that it is all on a shoe string budget....very little money comes in, just enough to pay for the website...and any extra $ goes right back into getting more products...It is busy for me sometimes, but I still love it, and plan on keeping it around for a long time!!!

We are also able to get some of the limited number of the POP Plutz3s as well. These are the model that the Mega is based on (as well as the Prism ZeroG). They are 40" wide/long and only 85$ shipped to you.